NEW YORK —No. 18 seed Diana Shnaider is leaning into her growing status as a US Open cult favorite, her recognizable on-court look drawing in fans as quickly as her powerful lefty game.
On a clear day, you can see Diana easily stand out in Flushing Meadows thanks to her signature polka-dot bandana scarf—an eye-catching element of her match kit dating back to her earliest days on the junior circuit.
“I tried visors, I tried caps, but I just couldn’t see and I was feeling uncomfortable,” Shnaider told Baseline in Cincinnati, as she recalled her first outdoors matches at the age of nine or 10.
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“My mom just went into a shop and randomly saw a bandana, and was like, 'Oh okay, I got it! We’ll see how this feels.' It’s covering my hair completely, and so I tried it and it felt comfortable.”
The Tolyatti native has always dared to make her own path in tennis—from her unique and practical headwear to her decision to a big move from Moscow to Raleigh, where she pursued a tennis scholarship ay North Carolina State University. She only needed one year with the NCAA before turning pro in 2023.